With feel for history, sculptor readies MLK statue for Hackensack

Nearly 150 miles away in Lancaster County, Pa., a 7-foot-4-inch clay figure of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stands in a studio surrounded by other works of sculptor Richard Blake.

Richard Blake with the 7-foot-4-inch clay model of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the sculptor's studio in Lancaster County, Pa.

Blake has spent countless hours molding the oil-based clay to get the largest and the tiniest of details in the face, hands and clothing of the slain civil rights leader just right.

"I tend to like to work with a lot of texture, and make it look spontaneous, and at the same time accurate," Blake said last week as he stood near his creation. "I don't ever want it to look so finished that you don't feel it. I want the surface to be agitated a little bit."

He has three weeks to work on those details, before the model begins the process of being turned into bronze. Then, it will be the first in Bergen County dedicated to King when it is erected later this year.

Blake was chosen to create the sculpture by the Bergen County Martin Luther King Jr. Monument Committee after it received 14 proposals from different artists. Earlier this month, five members of the committee drove to the studio to see the full-sized model for the first time.

"It is greater than life size, and it's a good rendition of Dr. King; we were very pleased," Arnold Brown, co-chairman of the committee, said. "He's doing some refinements with expression, and eye levels, but we were satisfied with the progress."

The committee has been tasked to raise $250,000 to pay for the project. Some of the money will also finance a scholarship in King's name. So far, the committee has gathered $130,000.

The committee plans to dedicate the monument at the Hackensack River Pathway as it crosses the Fairleigh Dickinson University campus sometime in June. But the extreme winter caused some construction delays on the site, and Brown said further holdups could lead the committee to hold the dedication later, possibly in September.

"It's challenging to say the least, the time is challenging,'' he said. "If we had a mild winter, we would have no problem at all."

At Blake's studio, located in Kinzers, Pa., where his Amish neighbors can be seen on horse and buggy and where potatoes and eggs can be bought from local farms, the artist is working to meet the June timeline.

Blake, a professor at West Chester University where he teaches sculpture, said he prepared to create the monument by listening numerous times to King's "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, which inspired the design.

The monument will depict King standing atop a pile of rough rock, symbolic of that figurative mountaintop of equality. He will be shown wearing a scholarly robe, carrying a scroll and a book, to symbolize his knowledge. The figure will then be placed on top of an octagonal slab of granite.

"The challenge was just to do the most credible job that I could do and, you know, I have to say within my definition, I'm pleased with how it's going," said Blake, who was also commissioned to create a King statue for California State University in Fresno years ago. "I think it will be a world-quality tribute to him, and I think it will work well."

The reddish-brown clay model looks nearly complete, but it's in an intermediate stage of the entire process, Blake said. The clay, placed over blue Styrofoam, is about three weeks away from being sent to a foundry, he said.

"I often say that when you are at the 98 percent point, that last 2 percent is 40 percent of the work," he said.

After the final touches on the clay, a thin rubber coat will be painted over it, and then a plaster shell applied on that, to hold the rubber in place, he said. Eventually, the clay part will be destroyed. A wax coating, about a quarter inch thick, will be painted into the rubber molds, Blake said. The wax is then pulled from the mold, and gives Blake a wax model and another opportunity to work on the fine details.

"I will go down and work on the wax, and that will give me another chance, a final chance to look at it," he explained. "And what I can do is take sections of it, turn it upside down and look at it, and if something needs to be cleaned up or detailed, then I can do that. So it gives me a lot more control over it."

That's followed by the "lost wax" process, where the wax figure receives a ceramic coating, which is then placed into a kiln that melts the wax away, leaving an impression of the artwork on the ceramic shell. The ceramic shell is then removed from the oven, and molten bronze is poured into it to form the pieces of the statue, Blake said. The pieces are welded together, tooled and given the final finish, a process known as patinae.

Blake, who still has to choose a foundry, said once complete, the statue will weigh 1,200 to 1,400 pounds, and about 2,000 pounds in total with the stone slab.

"I'm hoping this will be a monument that the public will be able to enjoy," he said. "I know I'm certainly pleased and proud to be part of the process to commemorate this hero."

Nearly 150 miles away in Lancaster County, Pa., a 7-foot-4-inch clay figure of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stands in a studio surrounded by other works of sculptor Richard Blake.

Blake has spent countless hours molding the oil-based clay to get the largest and the tiniest of details in the face, hands and clothing of the slain civil rights leader just right.

"I tend to like to work with a lot of texture, and make it look spontaneous, and at the same time accurate," Blake said last week as he stood near his creation. "I don't ever want it to look so finished that you don't feel it. I want the surface to be agitated a little bit."

He has three weeks to work on those details, before the model begins the process of being turned into bronze. Then, it will be the first in Bergen County dedicated to King when it is erected later this year.

Blake was chosen to create the sculpture by the Bergen County Martin Luther King Jr. Monument Committee after it received 14 proposals from different artists. Earlier this month, five members of the committee drove to the studio to see the full-sized model for the first time.

"It is greater than life size, and it's a good rendition of Dr. King; we were very pleased," Arnold Brown, co-chairman of the committee, said. "He's doing some refinements with expression, and eye levels, but we were satisfied with the progress."

The committee has been tasked to raise $250,000 to pay for the project. Some of the money will also finance a scholarship in King's name. So far, the committee has gathered $130,000.

The committee plans to dedicate the monument at the Hackensack River Pathway as it crosses the Fairleigh Dickinson University campus sometime in June. But the extreme winter caused some construction delays on the site, and Brown said further holdups could lead the committee to hold the dedication later, possibly in September.

"It's challenging to say the least, the time is challenging,'' he said. "If we had a mild winter, we would have no problem at all."

At Blake's studio, located in Kinzers, Pa., where his Amish neighbors can be seen on horse and buggy and where potatoes and eggs can be bought from local farms, the artist is working to meet the June timeline.

Blake, a professor at West Chester University where he teaches sculpture, said he prepared to create the monument by listening numerous times to King's "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, which inspired the design.

The monument will depict King standing atop a pile of rough rock, symbolic of that figurative mountaintop of equality. He will be shown wearing a scholarly robe, carrying a scroll and a book, to symbolize his knowledge. The figure will then be placed on top of an octagonal slab of granite.

"The challenge was just to do the most credible job that I could do and, you know, I have to say within my definition, I'm pleased with how it's going," said Blake, who was also commissioned to create a King statue for California State University in Fresno years ago. "I think it will be a world-quality tribute to him, and I think it will work well."

The reddish-brown clay model looks nearly complete, but it's in an intermediate stage of the entire process, Blake said. The clay, placed over blue Styrofoam, is about three weeks away from being sent to a foundry, he said.

"I often say that when you are at the 98 percent point, that last 2 percent is 40 percent of the work," he said.

After the final touches on the clay, a thin rubber coat will be painted over it, and then a plaster shell applied on that, to hold the rubber in place, he said. Eventually, the clay part will be destroyed. A wax coating, about a quarter inch thick, will be painted into the rubber molds, Blake said. The wax is then pulled from the mold, and gives Blake a wax model and another opportunity to work on the fine details.

"I will go down and work on the wax, and that will give me another chance, a final chance to look at it," he explained. "And what I can do is take sections of it, turn it upside down and look at it, and if something needs to be cleaned up or detailed, then I can do that. So it gives me a lot more control over it."

That's followed by the "lost wax" process, where the wax figure receives a ceramic coating, which is then placed into a kiln that melts the wax away, leaving an impression of the artwork on the ceramic shell. The ceramic shell is then removed from the oven, and molten bronze is poured into it to form the pieces of the statue, Blake said. The pieces are welded together, tooled and given the final finish, a process known as patinae.

Blake, who still has to choose a foundry, said once complete, the statue will weigh 1,200 to 1,400 pounds, and about 2,000 pounds in total with the stone slab.

"I'm hoping this will be a monument that the public will be able to enjoy," he said. "I know I'm certainly pleased and proud to be part of the process to commemorate this hero."